Vermilion earns No. 1 seed in playoff draw

Vermilion was the only team in The Morning Journal area to earn a No. 1 seed in the baseball district tournament seedings and drawings conducted over the weekend.

Vermilion, which won its fourth straight Sandusky Bay Conference, earned the No. 1 seed in the Division II Region 6 Fremont District.

Vermilion will open tournament play on May 21 at 5 p.m. when it hosts the winner of the May 19 No. 9-seed Sandusky vs. No. 10-seed Port Clinton contest.

Elyria Catholic earned a No. 3 seed in the Division III, Region 9 Creston District. The Panthers will open tournament play at home on May 19 at 5.p.m. when they host the winner of Doylestown Chippewa vs. Smithville.

Also in the D-III Creston sectional is Oberlin. The Phoenix are the No. 24 seed and will play No. 22 seed Loudonville on May 17.

Wellington and Fairview landed in the Division III, Region 9 Copley District.

Wellington earned a No. 9 seed while Fairview earned a No. 20 seed. Fairview opens tournament play on May 17, when it will play at No. 9 seed Akron Manchester. The winner of that game will face Wellington on May 19 in Wellington.

In Division II, Keystone is the only local team in the Region 5 Twinsburg District. The No. 12 seeded Wildcats on May 17 open tourney play when they will host the winner of Shaw vs. Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy.

Also in Division II, Firelands earned a No. 3 seed at the Region 6 North Ridgeville

District. The Falcons will open tournament play on May 19 when they face the winner of Cleveland Bard Early College-Peninsula Woodridge clash. In the same sectional, Bay earned a No. 9 seed and will travel to face No. 5-seeded University on May 19. On the bottom of the D-II North Ridgeville bracket more Morning Journal-area squads will face off in first-round games. On May 17, No. 17-seeded Brookside will host No. 20-seeded Rocky River. No. 28-seeded Clearview will travel to the East Side to take on Benedictine the same day.

A huge chunk of Division I teams in the Morning Journal area will play in the Region I Barberton District. That group includes Avon Lake, Midview, Westlake

and North Olmsted of the SWC, Elyria of the GCC and Lorain of the Lake Erie League. No. 26-seed North Olmsted will host No. 29 seed Elyria on May 17, while No. 20-seeded Westlake will host No.29-seeded Midview on the same day. The winner of the Westlak-Midview game will advance to play Avon Lake, which is the No. 4 seed, at Avon Lake on May 20.

Lorain will open its tournament May 15 when it hosts Cleveland Rhodes. Should Lorain win that game, the Titans would move on to face North Royalton on May 20 on the No. 9-seeded Bears’ home field.

Regional games will be held on June 3-4, according to the OHSAA website, with this year’s state baseball final four to take place at Canal Park in Akron.